The countdown to the eagerly-awaited British & Irish Lions tour to Australia continued with a brutal and sometimes thrilling round of Six Nations action at the weekend.

As we all tick off the days until the team depart Down Under, ESPNscrum will cast an eye across the action and pinpoint those players eligible for the elite tourists who are pushing their selection claims with strong performances. But luckily there is still a lot of rugby to be played until the squad board the plane for Hong Kong and plenty of time for hopes to rise and fall.

The young Ulster centre shone on his debut and looks to be the natural successor to Gordon D'Arcy. He made several line breaks and while they failed to create a try, his performance would have given Declan Kidney some heart.

Jenkins defied the doubters and was back to his best against the Italy scrum. He picked up an injury in the second-half that could rule him out of their next match versus Scotland but it was a top performance from the loose-head.

The Leicester second-row should cancel his plans for the summer - he will almost certainly be on the plane to Australia. He was the standout second-row on show at Twickenham and is consistency personified.

Jones is flourishing at blindside for Wales and it would take a huge call from Rob Howley to take the captaincy off the veteran back-rower. He was Wales' top tackler against Italy with 16 and could be in Lions contention.

Despite having played most of his rugby at blindside or openside, he is excelling at No.8 for England. He went toe-to-toe with Louis Picamoles for the entire match and managed to generally nullify the French back-rower's threat.